When I was a child, I never wanted long car trips to end. There was something peaceful about being with my family all snug in a darkened capsule. The road could've gone on forever. Now when I've been off the road for too long, I start to get antsy. People have sung about the call of the road. Willie Nelson, I hear it, too.

In 2010 I started a holiday called Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, which grew with the help of book lovers, bloggers, and also cross-country trips to visit bookstores.

During the thirteen years I spent trying to get published, I met many wonderful people remotely. I am a real-time, face-to-face kind of gal, though, and so it just made sense to combine my love of travel with getting to meet so many cyber friends.

On February 1st, 2013, we hit the road, going to over four hundred bookstores, libraries, book clubs, schools, and other locations across the country. For seven months, we car-schooled the kids and worked remotely--and said hello to you.

People wondered how life on the road would feel for so long. I know it's not for everyone. (One author I love remarked, "I would rather eat rats.") I may be kind of strange--OK, I know that I am--but for me the Let It Snow Tour was just about the sheerest fun I ever experienced. Drive up to a bookstore, be welcomed by somone who has devoted his or her life to books, have a delicious latte, then walk into a room and talk to one person or three hundred about the stories that compel us. What could be better than that?

But it does get better. I know that one reason I was able to do this was because I have the support of my family to cushion the hard parts. The nights when we couldn't find a place to stay, or I just couldn't say one more time, Yes, Virginia, multiplication really does matter. And even though the wear and tear occasionally showed--routinely we heard from the backseat, "Have we had lunch yet today?"; no such thing as a schedule on the road--overall there has been nothing more special than listening to my kids tell booksellers who their favorite authors are, or seeing everyone's eyebrows soar almost as high as the Rockies at the different parts of the country we see.

In April 2014, my next novel came out, and we did it all again, thanks to a warm welcome from the booksellers of this country. And then, never getting too much of this road trip thing, we did it again in 2015!